ROTH CONSULTING

Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration

1974 to 1977

Received my MBA with Distinction in 1976 with concentrations in General Management, Marketing and Agribusiness. After graduation I accepted the position of Research Associate working for University Professor Michael E. Porter in Harvard's executive education program.  In addition, I held a simultaneous appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts teaching Finance to undergraduates.

Big Blue Marble Sports, Inc.                                                                          

2004 to 2006

Founder and CEO

Developed and implemented the design for Big Blue Marble Sports, Inc., an e-commerce retailer of high-end sporting goods products sold to sports enthusiasts.  The company had several specialty retailing web-sites, as well as partnership collaborations with Yahoo and Amazon and a retail store. In addition, an accounting and fulfillment infrastructure was implemented for the business, a comprehensive advertising and promotion program was introduced in 2006.

Big Blue Marble's sites had been visited by over 500,000 people in its first year of operations; these dedicated consumers have reviewed some 650,000 individual products, placed over 4,000 orders and accounted for over 8,000 email sign-ups.  The company was sold in 2006.

Private Equity Investments

1998 to 2004

Founder and CEO

I organized a new company in 1998 engaged in Private Equity Investing, Turnaround Management, M&A Advisory and Business Strategy. I represented both institutional and individual investors, served as the CEO and/or CFO for the portfolio companies, provided their business strategies and raised all their capital.

My primary achievements included:

• Created a new and systematically different brand marketing strategy for a European chocolate company
• Served as the CEO for HealthBrands International, which consolidated specialty food companies with products designed for people with specific food allergies and intolerances
• Served as CEO and Chairman for a diversified cereal products company for five years, led the company through an asset restructuring, completed two follow-on acquisitions and implemented best-practice methodologies which significantly lowered costs.  During my tenure as CEO the company?s sales tripled and EBITDA increased six times.
• Started Tuned in Sports, Inc., as a consolidation of five sporting goods brands into one integrated brand management and marketing company and grew revenues from under $2 million to over $12 million in three years
• COO, CFO and Managing Director of a 90 person strategy consulting firm which required a combination of operating and financial strategies to return to positive cash flow.  I negotiated with the firm's bank, creditors and partners to eliminate losses, restart revenue growth and reorganize fixed costs.
• Served as a Managing Director of a specialized Investment Bank with responsibility for building the firm's food and beverage practice.
  

CR Management Associates, Inc.

1991 to 1998

Founder and CEO

CR Management (CRM) was a management buyout company with $40 million in equity capital and focused on industry consolidations where it could bring a combination of capital, management, M&A expertise, industry knowledge and a dedication to best practice economics to bear on specific industries.  In addition, CRM provided turnaround management, strategy consulting and bridge loan services to companies in which it was not a majority owner.

CRM made eight platform company investments in a variety of industries including:

• A sporting goods manufacturing and marketing company which grew from $6 million in sales to over $42 million
• A packaged goods marketing company focused on branded food products which grew from a seed investment to over $90 million in revenues
• A gift products distribution, design and importing company selling to specialty and gift stores across the country
• A bio-technology company with operations in the U.S., U.K. and Denmark focused on developing new pharmaceuticals based on natural plant compounds
• A medical devices company with technology specific to diabetics
• A software services with a focus on document management and retrieval technologies
• Two retailing concepts which were built to regional scale and then merged into larger national companies. 
   

Aegis Venture Funds

1985 to 1991

General Partner

Aegis was an early stage venture capital investment firm with $60 million in capital under management.  Aegis' Limited Partners were institutional investors including leading educational endowments, family trusts, not-for-profit institutions and pension funds.

Aegis general partners served as the lead investor in its portfolio companies and the fund was active in a variety of industries including information technology, telecommunications, biotechnology and consumer products and services.  Some of Aegis investments included:

• Chipcom, a manufacturer of high speed broadband Ethernet modems, which went public in 1991
• J. Jill, a publicly traded retailer of women's clothing company which started as DM Management, Inc., a leveraged consolidation in the direct marketing space
• Iris Graphics, a manufacturer of high resolution ink-jet printers, which revolutionized the photographic quality printing market
• IBIS Technology, manufacturer of specialty silicon wafers which went public in 1993
• Neomorphics, a materials based bio-technology company which developed a process for growing new implantable cartilage derived from the patients' own cells.